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Malted milk drinks, which are as much as one-third sugar, have been breakfast staples of upwardly mobile families in India since soldiers brought GlaxoSmithKline's Horlicks back with them after WW1   For a century, children in India have been brought up on malt-flavored powdered milk drinks that they thought would help make them healthy and strong. Now the $1 billion industry is set for a shake-up after two of the biggest producers, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Kraft Heinz Co. put the businesses up for sale and consumers switch to drinks with less sugar. Malted milk drinks, which are as much as one-third sugar, have been breakfast staples of upwardly mobile families in India since soldiers brought GlaxoSmithKline’s  Horlicks  back with them after the First World War. Now, after a decade of double-digit growth, sales in India rose 8.6 per cent in 2017 and could drop to half that this year. By 2022, the market will expand by only 2.7 per cent, Euromonitor forecasts...

The recall was due to an impurity (N-Nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA) which was found in the recalled products that include valsartan and its combinations   The recent recall of a common  hypertension drug  in the US due to contamination with a carcinogen has opened up short-term opportunities for a handful of Indian players. The issue with sartan (hypertension drug) began around July, when the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) notified health care professionals of a voluntary recall of several drug products containing the active ingredient valsartan. Valsartan is used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. The recall was due to an impurity (N-Nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA) which was found in the recalled products that include valsartan and its combinations. According to the USFDA’s list of products under recall, four companies - Teva, Prinston, Torrent, and Hetero - have recalled products containing the valsartan active ingredient. The US...

The acquisition will also propel PVR to becoming the 7th largest cinema exhibitor in the world in terms of annual admissions at its theatres Multiplex chain PVR Ltd on Sunday announced the acquisition of South India-based SPI Cinemas Private Ltd, which has a presence in the key markets of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Mumbai. In a cash-cum-stock deal, PVR will acquire 222,711 equity shares of SPI Cinemas, constituting 71.7 per cent of SPI, from existing shareholders for a total consideration of Rs 6.33 billion, and issue 1.6 million equity shares of PVR Limited, constituting 3.3 per cent of the diluted paid up equity share capital of PVR. At Rs 1,317.2 per share, this translates to Rs 2.1 billion, taking the deal value to just short of Rs 8.5 billion. EY India was the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction. PVR will be funding the cash transaction through a combination of internal accruals, new debt issuance, and a deferred cons...

New mobile versions of PUBG and Fortnite, both distributed by Tencent Holdings, raised the spectre of gamers spending more time on smartphone rather than more luxurious but less convenient consoles A key takeaway from Sony’s and Nintendo’s earnings is that console games are alive and well. While both companies reported softness in sales and shipments of console hardware – the PS4 and Switch, respectively – revenue and unit sales from software remained strong. That means consumers who bought the devices over the past year or so aren’t bored and weren’t lured to smartphone platforms to the extent many feared. New mobile versions of PUBG and Fortnite, both distributed by Tencent Holdings, raised the spectre of gamers spending more time on the ubiquitous smartphone rather than more luxurious but less convenient consoles. ALSO READ:  Sony records 24% rise in Q1 profit over surge in game software sale Both titles can be thought of as gaming versions of the Hun...

The payments bank ran into a controversy after it allegedly opened savings accounts for existing customers without their express permissions Airtel Payments Bank  , which was stopped by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from getting new customers on board, received approvals from the central bank to add new accounts, the company said on Thursday. Also, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has allowed it to use the 12-digit Aadhaar-based e-KYC, the company said. The payments bank ran into a controversy after it allegedly opened savings accounts for existing customers without their express permissions. These accounts allegedly led to government LPG subsidies worth Rs 1.68 billion being transferred to Airtel Payments Bank accounts even as many of the customers weren’t aware of that. “We thank the authorities for the approvals. We remain committed to the Government’s vision of financial inclusion and banking for all,” a spokesperson said. Artic...

The company also spent at historic levels, nearly tripling capital expenditure for the quarter to $7.7 billion Alphabet Inc .’s first-quarter results came with a clear message to Wall Street: The company is embarking on a new spending binge to chase its biggest rivals. Google ’s parent posted the strongest sales growth in almost four years on Monday, indicating marketers kept flocking to its services amid rising scrutiny of digital ads. But the company also spent at historic levels, nearly tripling capital expenditure for the quarter to $7.7 billion. Almost all of that spending went to buttress newer cloud and consumer-device businesses that lag behind leaders Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more Inc. and Apple Inc. After neglecting these markets for years in favour of its main ad businesses and riskier moonshot bets, Alphabet is now splurging to catch up. "The big story from the results was the significant rise in expen...

Mohan, chairman of Mohan Meakin, the maker of Old Monk rum, passed away on Saturday following a cardiac arrest at Mohan Nagar, near Ghaziabad Kapil Mohan  hardly ever downed a peg. Yet, the dark rum in a fat bottle his company brewed was the favourite evening companion for millions cutting across age, class and continents. Mohan, chairman of Mohan Meakin, the maker of Old Monk rum, passed away on Saturday following a cardiac arrest at Mohan Nagar, near Ghaziabad. He was 88. He was the man behind famous brands like Old Monk, Solan No.1, and Golden Eagle, before age and competition caught up. The teetotaller, who drew strength primarily from other spirits — of the holy kind — ran the company under his watch for over four decades. Only a year ago, he passed on the executive control to his nephews Hemant and Vinay, though he continued to be the chairman. Pushed to the helm, following the death of his elder brother V R Mohan in the early 1970s, Kapil saw the emerge...

Firm to prune domestic costs through initiatives such as voluntary separation Cognizant Technology Solutions plans to sharply increase local hiring in the US this year with increased demand for co-innovation and on-site presence from clients. The Nasdaq-listed technology services major said it would look at talent across local community colleges to big management universities to man different projects in the US. Last month, when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services opened the window for applications,   Cognizant   applied for "less than half" H1B visas compared with last year. "We are evolving our workforce and delivery in the United States. Cognizant hired 4,000 US citizens in 2016, and in 2017 and beyond, we expect to significantly ramp up our US based workforce by hiring experienced professionals in the open market and by making more use of university programmes. We are shifting our workforce largely in response to clients' increasing n...

Samsung revealed Bixby, a smart voice assistant to rival Apple's Siri at the US event. Almost three weeks after its initial launch in the US, South Korean giant Samsung will launch its flagship device   Samsung Galaxy S8   in India on April 19. Samsung launched S8 and S8 Plus on March 29 in the US. The devices come in two variants with different screen sizes -- the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus. On Monday, the company said in an invitation: "Samsung India cordially invites you to the launch of its next Galaxy series". Also Read :   Update details to link PAN and Aadhaar, mismatch leads to failure Samsung revealed Bixby, a smart voice assistant to rival Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant at the US event. The device has a bezel-less curved edge "infinity display" covered with pristine glass and a 12MP rear camera with multi-frame processing and optical image stabilisation. It has an 8MP auto-focus front shooter. The devi...

It comes preloaded with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Games, Airtel Movies Airtel Digital TV, the direct-to-home arm of Bharti Airtel, on Wednesday launched 'Internet TV -- powered by Android TV, which brings online content to the TV screen along with a bouquet of over 500 plus satellite TV channels, the company said. Airtel 'Internet TV' transforms any TV into a Smart TV and enables users to switch seamlessly between online and linear TV content with a single device. It is priced at Rs 4,999 with three month Digital TV subscription. Also, for a limited period, customers can pay Rs 7,999 and get the   Airtel Internet TV   with one year subscription. Airtel 'Internet TV' will be available exclusively on Amazon India starting on Wednesday. It will be available through Airtel Digital TV touch points -- retail stores/website/contact centres soon after online launch, a company statement said. "Customers can stream and cast their fa...

Enfield enjoys almost the entire 250-350 cc motorcycle market in country Royal Enfield, well known for its bullets, said it is not going to be easy for any new entrant to unseat the company. Bajaj Auto, which entered the 350-500cc motorcycle segment in December, claimed to have overtaken   Royal Enfield   in February in volumes. “If you look at the 250 cc plus motorcycle market in India, every 19 of 20 products are sold by us…that is a reality. It is not that easy to unseat someone who is doing this,” Siddhartha Lal, managing director and chief executive officer of Eicher (which owns Enfield) told   Business Standard . Bajaj’s claim was based on one month’s performance of the Dominar, its new 373cc premium sports motorcycle. Also Read:   Not worried about Bajaj, says Royal Enfield chief Japanese two-wheeler major Honda is also reported to be working on a motorcycle to cater to this segment. “It is very clear. There will be people entering. There is no dou...

Flipkart has been and will continue to make acquisitions to increase scale India's top e-commerce firm   Flipkart   has raised $1.4 billion in its biggest fundraising to date as it takes on US tech giant   Amazon.com   Inc for a larger share of the country's burgeoning online retail market. Chinese social media and entertainment firm Tencent Holdings Ltd, the world's biggest software company Microsoft Corp and online marketplace eBay Inc participated in the funding round, Flipkart said in a statement on Monday, which will value the Indian company at $11.6 billion. That is lower than the $15 billion valuation achieved at its last fundraising in 2015, reflecting how competition has intensified in the e-commerce sector as companies vie for a slice of the world's fastest-growing internet services market. Amazon last year said it would invest over $5 billion in India, and has recently expanded into online video and grocery shopping, seeking to expand aggressiv...